New Haven's lawyer says a fight with the adult club could be tough and expensive A "swingers" club opened in New Haven Township despite a new ordinance attempting to regulate adult-oriented entertainment in the rural township.

The town board members and residents expressed disapproval and tried unsuccessfully to discuss the new club with one of its owners at the board's regular meeting Thursday night.

Michael J. Bennin, who along with David Holman are listed as owners of the facility called Club WetSpot, refused to answer questions at the public meeting. He said his attorney, Jeff Scott Olson, was unavailable and several times responded to questions about the business by saying he could not answer questions without his attorney present.

He did say his attorney said the club doesn't fit under the town's ordinance. That ordinance was adopted by the town in September, before the club opened.

The club is listed on the Web site of NASCA, an organization for those who enjoy the "swinging" lifestyle. In a question and answer section on that group's Web site the lifestyle is described as primarily for couples who enjoy sex with those who are not their partners. That can be either with a single person or with groups. It notes that single men and women can attend.

On the local club's Web site, it says that single men need a sponsor for admission. Single women and couples apparently don't. The Web site indicates that people attending should bring their own liquor, but the club supplies mixers.

Town Chairman Bob Krause said he visited with Bennin at the club last week and gave him a copy of the ordinance. At that time Bennin claimed to be unaware of the ordinance, Krause said.

The club, located on Gillette Drive in Adams County, is on the site of a former recycling center. Krause said the property sold for $100,000 and the 12,000 square foot building on it has been partially remodeled for the new club. The club is in about 4,500 square feet within the building. A two-story structure has been constructed within the building, bathrooms have been added, heating added and rewiring, Krause said.

No building permits have been issued for the structure, and they are required by Adams County. Krause also said no well or septic permits have been issued. He said the club relies on a holding tank, but another person at the meeting said he thought new septic tanks had been installed.

The county has not inspected the place, Krause said, because it does not have a certified commercial building inspector. The county's building inspectors are certified for home inspections, he said, and did not want to inspect the commercial site fearing a lawsuit.

The county's zoning administrator was not available for comment Friday.

The town's attorney, Eric J. Pollex said businesses like these are designed to get around ordinances. He also indicated that the club's attorney, Olson, travels the country defending adult-oriented establishments.

"It's (the ordinance) is crystal clear that it applies to strip club and applies to any adult-oriented business," said Pollex, who wrote the ordinance.

Krause said ordinances like New Haven's are difficult to enforce, because the clubs claim they impinge on 1st Amendment rights to free speech.

"This will be a big fight and it's going to be tough," Pollex told the board. He said he did not agree that the club was "outside the box" set up by the ordinance. The downside of fighting the club's operation would be that if the town loses it would have to pay the club's attorney fees, he said. That could be as high as $500 per hour and could reach $600,000 or more.

Becky and Ken Hutchinson, who live next door to the club and have two children, said, "We don't need this." Becky Hutchinson said the club has a lot of traffic and patrons come out and "talk trash" that can be heard by the children. The Hutchinsons' home is about 30 feet from the club, which has put up a fence.

Ken Hutchinson said that during construction, he was approached and asked if his well could be used. He agreed and was given $100. He understood that the use would only be during construction, but the well continues to be used.

Pollex asked Hutchinson to call him to discuss that situation in private.

Pollex also said he would call or meet with the club's attorney and notify the board of the results of that meeting. He did advise the board to put the subject on its next meeting agenda. That meeting is scheduled for Jan. 19 at 7 p.m.

The NASCA Web site lists seven other clubs in Wisconsin in Kenosha, Oshkosh, Janesville, Madison, Merrillan and Milwaukee.

On every thread you are, insinuating that nonsense. Sex slavery and the human trade in general are serious subjects but you see a conspiracy to traffic in humans EVERYWHERE and thus you attack ad hominem anyone who defends property or privacy rights as somehow being in favor of or aiding sex slavery.

Nope, it's a business. Not a private home, stable, or outhouse, where such activites should be taking place. Plus the fact that the owners of this crap are partners with or hiring someone who tours the country supporting their practice of setting up shop in small towns. Going against the town laws, and then suing, so the small town can't afford to fight them.

If they want it private, keep it in someone's house, stable, or outhouse, where it belongs.

Private swinging between freaks is not my business but if they neighborhood doesn't want it then so be it.

We have titty bars, adult books, queer wanker booth-joints, massage parlors, turkish baths, private dancers.....and Swingers clubs of all types within the same zoning overlay here in nashville....basically in a ring around downtown

and a new Hustler store too..

49
posted on 12/19/2005 8:07:03 PM PST
by wardaddy
(They took most of my Dixie heritage......they'll have to take Christmas from my cold dead hands)

So you think that young women on vacation in Mexico are being kidnapped and thrown into sex slavery (what used to be called, "white slavery,) and held in large buildings with broken glass on the roof....? And you think that the same thing is happening in the swingers' club in New Haven?

According to a study of more than 1,000 swingers in a 2000 edition of the Electronic Journal of Human Sexuality by researchers at Bellarmine University, figures vary from 2 to 15 percent of couples in America have incorporated a form of swinging into their relationships at least once. Lazzeratta says the low end of that range is more likely. When it comes down to the people who actually do swing, the people are about as mainstream as they come. The study even goes as far to say that swinging couples are more likely to be politically conservative than anything else.

Republican swingers? These aren’t your typical “sexual deviants.” They are firemen, attorneys, teachers and doctors. Lazzeratta says he even knows of a few sportscasters for Los Angeles professional teams have been known to show up at a party or two with their wives. The study also suggests that most swingers are actually more likely to be less racist, less sexist and less homophobic than the general population.

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